KETR Local

3:49 am

Fri April 3, 2009

L-3 in Greenville cuts portion of workforce

Greenville – One of Greenville's largest employers, L-3 Communications Integrated Systems, has announced they've laid-off about 50 workers.

A spokesman for the company confirmed to KETR Friday the company has terminated about 50, or one percent of its more than 5,000 employees, effective immediately.

In what the company calls a workforce shaping measure, the cuts are necessary to balance workforce skills mix to meet customer demand and maintain competitiveness.

According to Manager of PR Communications Jason Decker, the job cuts are not due in part to the slumping economy.

All effected employees received a severance package offering, with compensation and benefits. There is no specific department from which the employees were released from, but rather all throughout the company, according to Decker.

Decker was not aware of any other plans to assist the now former L-3 employees during their unemployment.

The company release reads the layoffs are a skills mix issue only, noting the company has hired more than 400 workers in Greenville so far this year.

L-3 Communications Integrated Systems specializes in the modernization and maintenance of aircrafts, and the study, design, development, and integration of special-mission systems for military and commercial applications. Their headquarters are in New York City.

The news comes nearly a month after Zurn Pex Plumbing Systems in Commerce announced they will be laying-off 108 employees this summer. In their case, the economy was a factor with officials stating the cuts are blamed on the decline in the home building industry.